The officer said that In the ensuing Aght the Bismarck at one time closed the range s0 rapidly that it approach ed_ 10.000 yards in about eight minutes.
"All our guns were beating on the enemy, and during the next quarter of an hour he took very "severe punishment. One ship fired from one angle, and another" from another direction. "His fore turret was soon pedees. Three torpedoes struck the' Bismarck: the first below the bridge being followed by a sharp explosion.
The extraordinary scene which fol lowed was described by another officer. "Suddenly, all over the hull we could see a number of black dots hundreds of them, it seemed—they were human beings making a last effort to avoid death. As the vessel heeled over further the dots crawled along the hull. anywhere out of reach of the water. The vessel took a plunge and sank stern foremost, while dots were for'a time seen on the face the water."
This officer estimated that there were over 2.000 men aboard the Bismarck, Without torpedo attacks by British naval aeroplanes the Bismarck would probably have escaped, according to another officer. who. spoke of the bitter disappointment" when the Nazi battleship turned towards Brest after 36 hours of chase.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.